Toasted Paleo Sandwich - with bread and everything!

I've never been a sandwich person, but sometimes I just miss them!  So...I decided to figure out how to make bread and created a sandwich!

Paleo Toasted Sandwich

Leftover pot roast, tomato, and avocado on homemade bread! 

White Bread Recipe

2 cups Cassava flour

4 eggs

1 cup water

1/4 cup coconut vinegar

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix ingredients together.  Bake for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean.  Bread is best cold or toasted

Paleo Pad Thai

Wow...life has been incredibly stressful!  Normally, I would cope with the stress with wine and chocolate.  Healthy right?  I know...not really.  I almost broke down with a glass of wine, but I maintained my commitment and denied myself.  It feels really healthy though to no longer be addicted to chocolate and default to alcohol as a coping option.  One of my biggest rewards of this 30 day cleanse is being released from my addiction to sugar and chocolate.  I actually found a leftover Lindor Truffle...my fave.... and I just threw it in the freezer and forgot about it!  Seriously...who is this person?!  

So tonight, Michelle & I were both exhausted and just could not get ourselves to our running group.  Shame on us! Instead, we went to the grocery store and made dinner.  What this led to was deliciousness!  My craving when I go out is Pad Thai with peanut sauce, but that's not very healthy, nor is it Paleo.  I also struggle to get in my vegetables so tonight's dinner was an awesome way to not feel like I'm eating veggies when I am!

 

Paleo Pad Thai

Noodles:

1 TB Olive Oil

1 Tsp. Sesame Oil

2 Zucchinis

1 Medium Sweet Potato

Sunny Sauce:

1/3 Cup Sunbutter 

1 TB Honey

1 Tsp. Arrowroot Flour

2 Tb. Sunflower Oil

1 Tsp. Water

1 TB Sesame Oil

1/2 TB Coconut Aminos

Meat:

2 Chicken Breasts

1 TB Olive Oil

1 Tsp. Garlic Powder

1 Tsp. Ginger

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Lay a paper towel on a an 11X13 or larger baking sheet.   Spiral the zucchini and lay flat on the paper towel.  Add another layer of paper towels and blot.  Spiral the sweet potato and lay flat on top on the paper towel that is covering the zucchini.  Add a layer of paper towel to the top of the sweet potato. Set aside.

Mix the sunny sauce ingredients in a blender.  I used our Magic Bullet to mix it up.  I made the sauce fairly thick, so feel free to thin it out by leaving out the arrowroot flour or adding more water.

Cut the chicken into strips and then in half.  Heat up the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Once heated, add the chicken (be careful about splattering) and sprinkle with the spices.  Cooking, turning occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking, cook up the noodles.  Heat a pan on high with the olive oil.  Once the oil is heated, add the noodles.  Then, add the sesame oil.  Let cook for about 5 minutes or until softened. 

Once everything is cooked, layer the noodles, then the chicken, and then the sauce.  Add sesame seeds as a garnish.  Enjoy!

Meatloaf

Michelle loves meatloaf.  However, I've never been a huge fan of it, especially when it has ketchup on it.  My mom would make it, I would whine a little, and then scrape off the ketchup and eat it because my mom always said she wasn't a short order cook and I could make my own dinner if I didn't like it.  Yeah, right...I'm not making my own dinner...I'll just eat this and whine about it.  I wish I could say my taste for meatloaf changed as an adult, but it didn't.  Ironically, I LOVE meatballs.  Well, I thawed out 2 lbs. of our grass-fed ground beef for meatballs and then didn't have time to make them.  I told myself, I'm not going to let this food go to waste and spoil, but I need something else to make.  Lo and behold, an easy option is meatloaf.  It also makes Michelle happy which is an important aspect of any meal.  Guess what?! I think it’s pretty tasty too.  Win!

So here's tonight's meal!

Meatloaf:

·      2lb grass fed ground beef

·      1/2 cup tomato sauce

·      2 eggs

·      1 1/2 cups almond flour

·      2 teaspoon dried basil

·      2 teaspoon dried thyme

·      2 teaspoon dried parsley

·      Salt and pepper, to taste

·      2 tsp. garlic

·      2 tsp. oregano

Sauce:

·      2 cups tomato sauce

·      1 Tb. garlic

·      1 Tb. oregano

·      1 Tb. basil

·      2 Tb. honey

·      1 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

1.     Mix up the eggs, spices, and tomato sauce.  Add the flour and mix well.  Add the beef and combine with your hands until 1 consistent mixture

2.     Spread mixture into 2 loaf pans or 1 loaf pans and a 12 muffin pan

3.     Cook for 35 minutes at 350 degrees

4.     While meatloaf is cooking, cook up the sauce.  Add all ingredients together and bring to a soft boil.  Let simmer for 5 minutes on low and covered.  

5.     When the meat has been cooking for 25 minutes, add the sauce to the muffins and loaf.  

6.     Let finish cooking until sauce has solidified and crusted.

Chicken Fingers & Potatoes - Kid friendly

So sometimes I like to eat like a kid.  I have a history of being a picky eater and as much as I try to fight it, it just doesn't always work.  One of my favorites was chicken fingers and fries, which would seem like something I can no longer eat.  However, I'm not a fan of using Paleo as an excuse to whine about not being able to eat my favorite foods.  I just need to figure out an alternative.  And last night's was pretty tasty!  

This was not me last night!

Chicken Fingers

2 lbs. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

2 eggs

2 cups almond flour (or meal)

1 Tb. dried thyme

1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut 

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. cinnamon

Place a piece of aluminum foil on a cookie sheet/baking pan and grease the foil.  Set oven to 425 degrees

• Cut the chicken into strips
• Break the 2 eggs into a bowl and mix up
• Combine the remaining ingredients on a plate

Cut the chicken into strips, dip the strips in the eggs and then roll the egg washed chicken in the breading mixture.  Place the breaded chicken on the prepared baking pan.  Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, turn over and then cook for another 15 minutes.  If cooking with the potatoes, put the chicken on the lower rack.  

Add a side of Paleo-approved dijon mustard, local raw honey, or combine the two for a delicious honey dijon dipping sauce!

Sweet Potato Fries

2 Medium Sweet Potatoes

1-2 Tb. Olive Oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika (optional)

Wash up and cut the potatoes in to slices.  You can peel them if you'd like, but I generally don't.  Put potato slices in bowl with oil, salt, pepper, and paprika.  Toss to coat.  Feel free to adjust amounts of spices, as taste is a personal preference.  I'm not a huge salt person so I tend to use lesser amounts.  

Place on a baking sheet that is covered in aluminum foil.  Bake in 425 oven for 15 minutes, flip and then cook for another 15 minutes.  If cooking with the chicken, place potatoes on the middle upper rack.  

The great thing is, you can cook these two items together at the same temp and for the same time.  Enjoy!

The most delicious dinner I've made so far....

I know my posting has been really sporadic.  Sorry about that.  I was trying to be super woman by taking 2 doctoral level classes, working full-time, working a 2nd job part-time, AND trying to workout and cook/eat Paleo.  Needless to say...I failed.  My saving grace has been required class attendance and signing up for a 10K training group, which gets me running twice a week.  Michelle and I completed our first 10K last Saturday so Happy Valentine's Day to us!  Otherwise, I have been failing.  I've been eating terrible, not sleeping, and feeling super stressed out.  I also started a new job, which has brought different challenges, while also allowing me the freedom of not having a commute that's longer than walking across the hall.  Additionally, I quit the second job and look froward to not stressing about deadlines.

A lot of Paleo blogs talk about autoimmune diseases and food intolerances.  I'm excited to go to a functional doctor in March to try and figure out what is going on with me.  What I know right now is that I feel terrible from indulging in dairy, grains (gluten free), and sugar.  So it's back to 30 days of clean eating.  Michelle took away my wine too. This made me very sad, but I'm sure I'll be fine.  I'm in day 2 and at the end of it...so yay!  Cheers to success (*raises a mug of tea)!

Do you love starches?  OMG...I LOVE starches!  Tonight's dinner tasted all kinds of delicious starchiness while incorporating protein and vegetables.  So now I'm trying to get back on the pure and clean eating, which means I have to start cooking again.  I totally skipped running tonight due to an injury, but also because I wanted to finish dinner.  What was it?  Shepherd's Pie!!!!  No...it doesn't have potatoes, it has cauliflower.  It was the best shepherd's pie I've ever had.  Thanks to The Paleo Mom, Against all Grain, and Well Fed for the inspiration around the dish.  

Kelly's Paleo Shepherd's Pie

Makes a very full dish - feel free to cut recipe in half.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Base

• 4 lbs. ground meat (2 lbs. ground pork and 2 lbs. ground beef)
• 5-6 stalks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 parsnips, finely chopped
• 1 large sweet potato, finely chopped
• 4 medium carrots (I prefer rainbow), finely chopped
• Coconut oil (for sautéing)
• 1 TB minced garlic
• 8oz can tomato paste
• 2 cups water
• 2 tsp. coconut aminos
• 2 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
• Finely ground salt and pepper to taste (I did 3 turns each on the grinder)

Cauliflower Topping

• 2 TB minced garlic
• 2 TB extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 heads cauliflower
• 6 TB ghee
• 1/4 c. coconut milk
• 3 tsp. sea salt

Base

1. Put the coconut oil in a pan over medium heat.  Let it melt and put in the carrots, potato, and parsnips.  Cover and let cook for 5 minutes - vegetables should be soft, but not brown.
2. Add the garlic and celery to the vegetable pan and stir until fragrant.
3. While the veggies are cooking, cook up the pork and beef in a large pan (I used a large pot) until browned.  Once done, drain off the fat and add the vegetables, tomato paste, water, coconut aminos, rosemary, and thyme.  Stir to combine and let simmer on medium heat until the water cooks down (about 10-15 minutes).  Once done, place in a 12X12 or 9X11 baking pan.

Cauliflower

1. Cut up the cauliflower heads and place the florets into a pan with a 1/2-inch of water.  Cover and let steam for 15 minutes.  Drain the water and place the florets into a food processor. 
2. Add the garlic, coconut milk, olive oil, ghee, and salt to the cauliflower.  Blend until it's combined and smooth/creamy.
3. Place the cauliflower mixture over the meat mixture and spread evenly.

Place the dish into the 400-degree oven and cook for 25 minutes or until the cauliflower topping is nicely browned (but not burnt).

This dish could also be prepared prior to assembly for us busy folks!

Cook up the veggies and place in a container - store in the fridge no more than 2-3 days

Cook up the meat with all the flavorings (but minus the veggies) and place in a container - store in the fridge no more than 2-3 days

When you're ready to assemble, combine the meat and veggies and place in the baking dish.  Prepare the cauliflower and add as the top layer.  Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.